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As we flew into Maine on the evening of February 17th, this was our first sight of the United States in almost a year. It was, needless to say, a beautiful picture.

Including the time spent preparing for the deployment, we've been at it now for more than two years. The last one has been a long one. The work was not the hard part; it was having to be away from our friends and family. However, it's always remained evident that everyone back here did everything within their power to remind the members of the unit that we were not forgotten. Prayers, packages, letters, and emails reminding us of the reasons we serve flowed non-stop.

From every soldier in the 166th Engineer Company, thank you to all. Your contributions to us have meant more than you'll ever know.

It's good to be home.

Final Entry

SPC Bailey Bullock
166th Engineer Company
2nd Platoon

To be totally honest, I wasn't sure if I was going to write this last entry. Things have been winding down and we have all had tunnel vision on our last main objective: getting home. Our missions are completed, our connexes are loaded, and our bags are packed. You, our friends and families, and our lives back home are our focus now. So, you can see how it has been a little hard to find the focus to write, but in the end, I found I had some parting words to say.

Every time I think about it I am amazed that all this is actually coming to an end. There have been times over the last 11 months when it seemed like it would never end, and others where time flew by. Over the last few weeks I haven't been able to keep from reviewing it all in my head. I think back to when we first reported to Winfield, to my platoon's first mission to FOB Wolverine, and to these last weeks spent here at Sharana. Like all things in life, when looked back upon them, there are things I remember that make me proud and others that are a disappointment. But I have come to a conclusion, one that sums up my feelings about this deployment: if I had the choice, I would do it all again. I have experienced things that few ever will and that I will probably never again. I have learned more from the soldiers around me than I ever thought possible. I have made friendships and experienced a bond with my fellow soldiers unlike anything I have ever known. It has been an experience of a lifetime. We have served our country well, to the best of our ability as a unit, and I am proud of what we have accomplished.

To those of you who have followed these entries over the past months I want to say “Thank You” for reading what I have had to say. When I was first asked to do this by MAJ Thompson, I wasn't sure how it was going to go. To be honest, I was a little nervous about it. But to my surprise and delight, writing these entries has been an unexpected gift. I never realized how much I would enjoy it and how rewarding it would be. It has been my honor to write to you.

Again, I want to thank all of you for the support you have given us during this tour. I hope you know how important you have been. You have all made the difference for us. I wish you all the best and I can't wait to see you when we get home!

The Best Time

The above photo is probably one of my favorites from our time here. It was taken a couple of weeks ago as our soldiers were preparing their personal gear for inspection by Customs. It's my favorite because it signals the end of our time here and that our mission is near completion.

We're not yet home, but we're close...very close. This is also, historically, one of the key times that risks are the greatest. Soldiers are relaxed, have their guard down, and are generally not mindful of the many risks that still surround us all in a combat zone. I have to fight it every day. I want so badly to start thinking of home and daydreaming of a return to normalcy. Everyone does. Regardless, all of our leaders here are doing a fantastic job of protecting everyone. It's common knowledge that risks and threats here remain abundant, and we all discuss it openly every single day to ensure we don't forget.

Construction projects continue, but their number is diminishing. We only have a few that remain, and within the next couple of weeks those will either be completed or passed on to our replacements, the 226th Engineer Company, from Winfield, Kansas.

We're in full swing with inventorying our tools and equipment that will be handed off to the 226th Engineer Company. All other preparations have been made, and we've started the sending information back to Camp Atterbury for the de-mobilization process in Indiana. Our time there, however, ought to be short-lived (only a few days based on what we're hearing), and we should quickly be on the road from Indiana to Alabama.

If all goes well, the 166th Engineer Company soldiers will be back on U.S. soil in the next few weeks, and we'll all be home toward the end of February.

Life is good.

With a Little Help from Our Friends

Some of our folks shown above, enjoying the game in their new t-shirts. Details below. Other photos posted at al.com (courtesy Tom Gordon).

Dear Friends and Family of Bette Sue Strasburger,

Thanks to all of you so much for taking the time, effort, and cost
required to send to us the Alabama t-shirts. I can assure you that all
of it is VERY much appreciated by all of our soldiers and that the
shirts will be put to good use on the 7th during the game.

Again, I can't thank you enough. I'll post photos of our soldiers
watching the game at our website as soon as possible (after we recover)!

Sincerely,
MAJ Lee C. Thompson
166th Engineer Company
Task Force Builder
FOB Sharana, Afghanistan


RE:

To Our Heroes in Uniform from Alabama:

Enclosed in this box are shirts to help boost your Roll Tide spirit
while you watch the championship football game on January 7th.

They come to you with love and admiration from the friends and family of
Bette Sue Strasburger of Montgomery, who recently saw Matt Lauer on the
"Today Show" interviewing troops in Afghanistan, with a soldier waving
an Alabama shirt jumping in and out of camera range.

Bette Sue though how wonderful it would be to get Alabama shirts to our
local women and men on military bases far away, so through the miracle
of the internet and in the spirit of the Holiday Season, she put
together the resources to make this happen in less than a week!

God be with you in your mission and help you return home to Sweet
Alabama safely.

Roll Tide

Draft Old Guys

While the thoughts below weren't written by SGT Loyd Wright, they were passed on by him in an email recently. He (pictured on the right) recently had a birthday on December 13th, and SFC Mike Adams (pictured on the left) also had one on December 22nd. We were all fortunate enough to be here to celebrate with them both. SGT Wright's message immediately came to mind:


New Direction for War:

I am over 60, and the Armed Forces thinks I'm too old to track down terrorists. You can't be older than 42 to join the military. They've got the whole thing back to front. Instead of sending 18-year-olds off to fight, they ought to take us old guys. You shouldn't be able to join a military unit until you're at least 35.

For starters, researchers say 18-year-olds think about one thing every 10 seconds. Old guys only think about that a couple of times a day, leaving us more than 28,000 additional seconds per day to concentrate on the enemy.

Young guys haven't lived long enough to be cranky, and a cranky soldier is a dangerous soldier. 'My back hurts! I can't sleep, I'm tired and hungry.' We are impatient, and letting us kill some jerk that desperately deserves it will make us feel better and shut us up for a while.

An 18-year-old doesn't even like to get up before 10 a.m. Old guys always get up early to run to the restroom. Besides, like I said, I'm tired and can't sleep and since I'm already up, I may as well be up killing some fanatical jerk.

If captured, we couldn't spill the beans because we'd forget where we put them. In fact, name, rank, and serial number would be a real stretch.

Boot camp would be easier for old guys. We're used to getting screamed and yelled at and we're used to soft food. We've also developed an appreciation for guns. We've been using them for years as an excuse to get out of the house, away from the screaming and yelling.

They could lighten up on the obstacle course, however. I've been in combat and didn't see a single 20-foot wall with rope hanging over the side, nor did I ever do any push-ups or sit-ups after completing basic training. Actually, the running part is kind of a waste of energy, too. I've never seen anyone outrun a bullet.

An 18-year-old has the whole world ahead of him. He's still learning to shave, to start up a conversation with a pretty girl. He still hasn't figured out that a baseball cap has a brim to shade his eyes, not the back of his head.

These are all great reasons to keep our kids at home to learn a little more about life before sending them off into harm's way.

Let us old guys track down those dirty rotten cowards. The last thing an enemy would want to see is a couple of million angry old guys with attitudes and automatic weapons who know that their best years are already behind them.

Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Snow...

1LT Sam Smallwood
166th Engineer Company
3rd Platoon

3rd Platoon's latest mission was to build a battalion Tactical Operations Center (TOC) for the 27th Engineer Battalion. Even though we had some foul weather in the beginning, we still managed to build the 40’ x 90’ building with 14 interior rooms in 21 working days. These guys busted their butts all day long, every day, to get this mission accomplished. We worked 7 days a week until this building was complete. We had crews split up in the beginning, some pre-fabbing trusses for the roof, and some pre-fabbing footers for the floor and some people cutting all the studs for the walls. We had to maximize our productivity by being as creative and efficient as we possibly could. We couldn’t have accomplished this mission without the help and support of the 168th Engineer Company. They lent us a small crew of carpenters to help us out and Major Jones and his staff was at our beck and call for assistance with getting any BOM or extra equipment to get this job accomplished. This was truly a team effort and I’m very proud of how hard the soldiers worked on such a high profile project this late in our deployment. I know these guys are worn down and I had to be careful not to push them too hard because, by this time, everyone is tired and worn down and fuses are short. We have had nothing but compliments from the 27th Engineer Battalion on how great the building looks and how fast we were able to get it built. This was just another testimony to how good of a job these guys have done on this deployment, and, hopefully, this will be our last major project that we have to do (we still have a lot of things to get ready to return home at this point). We would also like to thank everyone who sent us care packages and Christmas cards during the holidays.